Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living.

An eye for an eye only leads to more blindness.
(Margaret Atwood)

Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

I april fant fuglene trærne sine. Skogsduen kom, spurvene kom, hakkespetten kom og den skrekkelige nøtteskriken kom; vi klarte ikke å sove om natten, om morgenen, når lyset kom, var det umulig å sove, galskapen kom, vårens galskap; den ble skreket ut om natten og om morgenen.

Det er først når man gir opp at det virkelig tar slutt

Falling for a book is not the nymph Echo falling for the sound of her own voice nor is it the boy Narcissus falling for his own reflection. Those Greek myths warn us of the dangers of recognising no reality but our own. Art is a way into other realities, other personalities. When I let myself be affected by a book, I let into myself new customs and new desires. The book does not reproduce me, it re-defines me, pushes at my boundaries, shatters the palings that guard my heart. Strong texts work along the borders of our minds and alter what already exists. They could not do this if they merely reflected what already exists.

Don’t pointless things have a place, too, in this far-from-perfect world? Remove everything pointless from an imperfect life, and it’d lose even its imperfection.

Men are more interesting in books than they are in real life.

Jeg ergret meg litt over denne uforstyrrelige sinnslikevekten hans; det er alltid noe irriterende ved mennesker som ved en paradoksal, biologisk tilfeldighet har fått lagt inn ståltråd i kroppen istedetfor nerver. Gad vite om han egentlig kjente smerter i tennene når tannlegen boret i dem?

May the odds be ever in your favour.

ISABELLA
Yet show some pity.

ANGELO
I show it most of all when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;
And do him right that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another. Be satisfied;
Your brother dies to-morrow; be content.

ISABELLA
So you must be the first that gives this sentence,
And he, that suffer's. O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Don Quijote

Du ridder fra La Manchas jord
med Sancho Panza i ditt spor,
hvor går din vei i dag?
Hvem skal du vel i dag befri
fra tidens mørke hekseri?
Hvor skal du slå et slag
med sverd og skjold
med verdens troll
og løse oss av dragens vold?
Du rider ennu seierstrygg
på Rosinantes rygg.

Det er alltid en lettelse å ha et annet og svakere vesen og beskytte når man ikke føler seg synderlig modig selv.

Til å være en moderne Don Quijote er du slett ikke så gal, sa han. - Du stormer vindmøller på en flott og heroisk måte som virkelig avtvinger respekt.

Fasten your hair with a golden pin,
And bind up every wandering tress;
I bade my heart build these poor rhymes:
It worked at them, day out, day in,
Building a sorrowful loveliness
Out of the battles of old times.
You need but lift a pearl-pale hand,
And bind up your long hair and sigh;
And all men's hearts must burn and beat;
And candle-like foam on the dim sand,
And stars climbing the dew-dropping sky,
Live but to light your passing feet.

Hvem kan egentlig avgjøre hva som til enhver tid er en "passende" følelse ?.

Dere psyko-analytikere drømmer om et samfunn av konfliktfrie mennesker - en redselsfull tanke.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

Det er enkelt å kritisere mennesker man ikke kjenner. Godt føles det også